On Tuesday morning Nathan, Keaton, Bob and I set out to go to Pictou. Pictou county is where my 2nd great grandparents settled when they came from Scotland in 1831. Our first stop was Baillie cemetery where my 2nd great grandparents and my great grandfather were buried, as well as some other relatives. We had been there four years before and the graveyard had been neat and taken care of. This time the whole place was overgrown. We could hardly find the place. What a difference four years can make.
We next went into Pictou. Nathan and I went to the courthouse to look up some probate records and Bob and Keaton wandered down by Pictou Harbour. There is a replica of the Ship Hector in the Harbour. My ancestors didn't come on the Hector; they arrived about sixty years later.
The Nova Scotia Temple
Nathan had taken a few days off, but on Friday he went into work. We went into Halifax with him and toured the Citadel while he was at work. The Citadel was a huge fort built by the British to ward off a land attack by the Americans. The following bit of history comes from Parks Canada who now control the fort.The present Citadel, completed in 1856, is the fourth in a series of forts since 1749 to occupy the hill overlooking the harbour. It is an excellent example of a 19th-century bastion fortification complete with defensive ditch, ramparts, musketry gallery, powder magazine and signal masts. Although never attacked, the fort was garrisoned by the British Army until 1906 and by Canadian Forces during the First and Second World Wars.
The fourth Citadel was established to guard against a land-based attack from the United States. This massive, star-shaped, masonry fortification took 28 years to build. Constructed originally as a smoothbore fortification, the Citadel quickly became obsolete with the introduction of powerful rifled guns in the 1860s. In response to the rapidly changing times, the Citadel upgraded its armaments and for the first time could defend the harbour as well as the land approach because the new artillery fired heavier shells a greater distance and with more accuracy.
The major role for the Citadel after the turn of the century was to provide barrack accommodations and act as a command centre for other harbour defences. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, the Citadel was used as a temporary barracks for troops going overseas and as the centre for anti-aircraft operations for Halifax. The Citadel was the "last view of the country for so many thousands outward bound and the first landmark to those who returned."
On the week-end most of the Baines took part in a 5 k run - the Cole Harbour Harvest Festival road race.
Our newest Grandson, Lochlan.
Tie-dying
